Eagles’ Run Defense Exposed on Black Friday
Nov 28, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Chicago Bears running back D'Andre Swift (4) carries the ball defended by Philadelphia Eagles safety Sydney Brown (21) during the first quarter of the game at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
The common complaint when it comes to the Philadelphia Eagles has been the lack of offensive production, but a new issue seemed to arise in the Eagles’ Black Friday loss to the Chicago Bears.
Vic Fangio’s defense, which had been elite prior to the loss, had an abysmal showing on the ground.
Philadelphia was completely run through throughout the entirety of the game. The Eagles allowed a total of 281 yards on the ground alone with both Kyle Monangai and former Eagle D’Andre Swift running about 130 yards each. Both backs found the endzone in the game and completely sliced through the Eagles’ defensive line.
Going into this game, the run defense wasn’t a concern, with the majority of the unit being healthy. Philly had the usual starters out there on the defensive line, and the linebacker room was just as healthy, but the one difference was the removal of Jihaad Campbell. Campbell has been moved to strictly special teams duties with Nakobe Dean being back to full strength, but that may need to change after the performance on Friday. Dean played well, totaling 12 tackles on the day, so if Campbell returns to defense, he shouldn’t replace him. Campbell was having a Defensive Rookie of the Year campaign before he was moved off the defense, and if Fangio were to make a quick change going into Week 14 against the Chargers, it should be bringing him back with the linebackers.
Along with the removal of Campbell, other factors that could be causes of Philly’s horrific defensive showing on the ground could be the heightened focus on guarding the pass game. With the looming threat of D.J. Moore, Rome Odunze, Colston Loveland, and Cole Kmet, Fangio seemed to have put more focus into guarding them rather than defending the middle of the field and line of scrimmage. Philadelphia was without Andrew Mukuba in the secondary, who was placed on the IR after his fractured ankle in the loss to Dallas. In addition to Mukuba, Adoree’ Jackson was recovering from a concussion and played in Friday’s game. It made sense to put all hands on deck to defend the pass game with the danger of the receivers and tight ends and the banged-up secondary, but it seemed as if it was given too much priority.
With all that being said, the defense only allowed 24 points, a serviceable number. The Eagles have won two games this year in which they allowed over 24 points, 25 and 26 points allowed against the Buccaneers and Rams, respectively. But as we have been saying all season long, the offensive production is lackluster. Jalen Hurts is inaccurate, Saquon Barkley can’t get anything going, A.J. Brown is a diva, and the offensive line is injured. To put things simply, the offense isn’t giving the defense any favors. The defense is going to have its rough moments, as we saw against Chicago. But they can’t be relied on to win games every single week, which has been the consistent theme of this season.
Philadelphia will have the chance to redeem itself after a mini bye week, with the next game being against the Chargers in LA with 12 days’ rest. In the upcoming primetime Monday night matchup, LA may possibly still be without star rookie running back Omarion Hampton, who’s been out since Week 5. The Chargers, who are also 8-4, have tools similar to the Bears, with the receiving duo Keenan Allen and Quentin Johnston. Philadelphia will have plenty of time to gather and review tape of Los Angeles and figure out how to respond to their embarrassing showing this past week.
Evan Hartenstein
Evan has been a member of the Philly Sports Reports team since March 2023. He is covering the 76ers and wants to pursue a long-lasting career in Sports Journalism.
Get New Articles Emailed Right To Your Inbox:
